Download Animal defenses by Christina Wilsdon PDF

Bugs that seem like leaves, snakes that play lifeless, fish that fly, and toads with toxic epidermis - those animals are among the creatures that safeguard themselves in interesting methods. nearly each animal is hunted as foodstuff by way of another form of animal and has built how you can safeguard itself opposed to predators. "Animal Defenses" provides the wide range of actual and behavioral variations utilized by animals of their fight to outlive and exhibits how scientists proceed to make new discoveries in regards to the age-old maneuvering among predator and prey.

A chemical defense may be a primary defense: a defense that exists all the time, even when the animal is not in any danger. A poisonous insect, for example, is poisonous all the time. A chemical defense can also be a secondary defense: a defense that is put to work after the animal has been threatened or 55 56 AnimAl deFenses attacked. A skunk, for example, doesn’t always ooze bad-smelling fluid. First, it behaves in ways that warn the predator to go away. It will spray predators that do not heed the warning.

PlAying deAd A variety of animals escape death by playing dead. This defense is called death feigning. Animals that play dead may seem as if they are offering themselves up on a platter. Yet, many predators hunt prey in response to movement. Many animals also do not eat prey that they have not killed. By playing dead, an animal may make its attacker lose interest. A predator may also get careless if its prey seems to be dead. It may relax its grip and give the prey a chance to escape. Many insects are known to feign death.

It can also curl its body slightly so that its nose and tail touch, though it cannot roll up into a ball. The nine-banded armadillo is about the size of a cat. The pink fairy armadillo is much smaller—about as long as a dollar bill—but it is also a mighty digger. Like its larger cousin, it can swiftly dig a burrow when danger threatens. It runs into the burrow head first and plugs the opening with a plate of armor that covers its hind end. The three-banded armadillo is the only armadillo that can roll itself up so tightly that it looks like a scaly croquet ball.